Some storage containers of a trailer, sometimes referred to as a “bluff body,” terminate with a large flat back surface. This shape can cause an area of reduced pressure to be created behind the storage container as it moves, thus generating a force that can be overcome with additional engine power and thus, additional fuel. In other words, air flow passing behind the vehicle can impart an aerodynamic drag force on the vehicle.
It is known to deploy a structure at the back of the storage container to address the drag force. For example, back trailer fairings can be used to streamline the back end of the trailer in order to control the air flow. Such a reduction on the drag of the vehicle may conserve fossil fuels as well as other sources of vehicle drive power for hybrid vehicles, battery-operated vehicles, and alternative fuel-based vehicles, for example.
The reduction of aerodynamic drag forces is also discussed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,936 entitled Drag Reducing Fairing For Trucks, Trailers And Cargo Containers by Mulholland; U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,145 entitled Apparatus And Method For Motor Vehicle Air Drag Reduction Using Rear Surface Structure by Harris; U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,342 entitled Tractor-Trailer Aerodynamic Drag Reduction by Marlowe et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,366 entitled Drag reducing device for land vehicles by Baker et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,252 entitled Truck Trailer Drag Reducer by Andrus; U.S. Pat. No. 6,595,578 entitled Truck After-Body Drag Reduction Device by Calsoyds et al; U.S. Pat. No. 6,959,958 entitled Aerodynamic Combination For Improved Base Drag Reduction by Basford; U.S. Pat. No. 8,641,126 entitled Sealed Aft Cavity Drag Reducer by Visser et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 8,820,817 entitled Tractor Trailer Rear Door Air Drag Reduction System To Reduce Fuel Consumption, by Anderson; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0285411 entitled Drag Reduction Plate and Structure For Trailers by Layfield et al.; and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2014/0117713 entitled Aerodynamic Rear Drag Reduction System For A Trailer by Baker, the entire disclosures of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.